We asked some of the brightest minds in the world for their advice. You can access their responses in a series of videos: “Fueling the Next Wave of Innovation: Expert advice for companies on leading through a crisis.” 

For this blog, we’ve taken excerpts from interviews with these experts:

• Art Markman, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas, Austin, and executive director of IC-squared Institute.
• Tim Galles, chief idea officer at Barkley, and author of Scratch: How to Build a Potent Modern Brand From the Inside Out
• Dr. Ioannis Ioannou, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School
• Ravin Jesuthasan, futurist, author and managing director of Willis Towers Watson
• Scott McCormick, president of the connected vehicle trade association
• Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communications at The Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth

Agility and resilience are keys to recovery

Along the road to economic recovery, the change in business focus is inevitable as external factors have eliminated any illusion that we would be able to return to the way we have for the last 11-12 years. The defining moment for many organizations will now be how they approach the next phase of the recession. Will they try to go back to the way things were, or will they adopt new, more sustainable approaches to their business practices?

Watch the full video here

Being agile to respond to new market needs with new business models will involve rethinking our goals at the most basic level. The pursuit of efficiency and growth will both have to take a back seat to the pursuit of resilience and agility. Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

According to Ravin Jesuthasan, futurist, author and managing director of Willis Towers Watson, “Focus on resilience is going to be critical, equal to the agility to very rapidly pivot from where we are today to adjust to new normals. It includes things like making choices about how you allocate your capital, about how I cross train my people, and creating a more agile way of working where work is not bound up in very tightly defined jobs. Rather, we’ve got internal marketplaces for talent where talent can be redistributed and redeployed very quickly depending on where the work is, without having to move from one job to another. It means recognizing and rewarding leaders who demonstrate that resilience—who don’t go after that next dollar of growth or that next dollar of efficiency if it’s going to compromise the integrity of the business model.”

Leading with empathy

When the pandemic struck and organizations were forced to make choices about the bottom line, companies either cut costs and laid off many employees, or found creative ways to cut other costs or redeploy employees to different roles and even to adjacent organizations in need of assistance. As leaders, our ability to rethink job descriptions and responsibilities may be the key to increasing our organization’s ability to innovate and make an impact, not just on the bottom line but on people’s lives, the community, and the world at large.

Watch the full video here

In the last 10 years or so, a new employment contract has been forged between employers and employees. That contract states that the workplace will be a place of community, shared vision and values, and a place where people can express themselves and their passions through their work. Now that most people are working from home, the challenge of establishing community is more important than ever.

The importance of strong stakeholder relationships

Regardless of the stage of recovery discussed, our experts emphasized the importance of relationships and how they impact everything from helping business leaders decide on short, middle, and long term goals, to defining innovations, to moving the company forward, and finally to determining the ultimate success of the organization. 

The contingency plans that are put in place now, need to include plans to communicate with your employees, your supply chain, your customers and partners, and the community at large. Like everything else, those communications are not just about business, they need to be personal. empathetic, and genuine.